Transfer from Government Project Visa to Private Sector

08/05/2016

Hi … is it possible now to transfer government project visas to the private sector?

Name withheld

Answer: We have answered a number of similar questions and in a lot of detail of the last few months. One of these answers is reprinted below for your information and that of the other readers. “It’s now not a question of what your work status is or how long you have spent with the firm on a government project visa … instead what is being considered is whether you were hired for the project from abroad or you joined the firm on a local transfer.

“So everything will be in your favor, if you are already in Kuwait and you are planning to join the government project on a local transfer. This means that you should also not have any problems (and that too without having to leave the country) transferring back to a private sector but remember that you will have to work on this government project for at least a year before you can apply for a release. We would like to bring the following to your attention.

Over an year ago — in March, 2015 — after issuing a similar verdict on Jan 11 of the same year, Manpower Public Authority Director Jamal Al-Dousary issued an administrative decision allowing some expatriates working on government projects to transfer their visas from one sponsor to another.

This made things easy for only some of the expatriates but a lot of them misunderstand the situation and think that there is a blanket ban on transfer of government project visas. But this is not the case and this is where a clarification comes into play and sets the ground rules for the transfers that are allowed.

Workers on government projects were in the past only allowed to transfer their visas to different companies but under the sponsorship of the same employer after the completion of their contracts.

But now the above decision clarifies that laborers contracted locally from the private sector or transferring from dependent visas can transfer to other sponsors according to the previous conditions, which are:

1. Conclusion of the project’s tenure

2. Working for at least one year for the first sponsor

3. Getting the sponsor’s approval for transferring.

So, this makes it very clear that if you transferred to this project locally from another sponsor/company then your transfer is allowed.

In the end, as a result of the above decision, we would again like to stress that if you joined the government project on a local transfer you should have no difficulty in transferring your residence to the private sector after one year but if you were hired on this project from abroad then you can forget about transferring to the private sector unless there is a drastic change in the rules … which doesn’t look likely in the near future.